Medially hinged price marking carton



Feb. 21, 1967 J. P. FERRERA MEDIALLY HINGE!) PRICE MARKING CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 10, 1965 INVENTOR JOSEPHRFERRERA J. P. FERRERA MEDIALLY HINGED PRICE MARKING CARTON Feb. 21, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 10, 1965 FIG. 6

INVENTOR JOSEPHP- FERRERA BY 44 -144 J @9 ATTORNEY United States Tatent C 3,305,078 MEDIALLY HINGED PRICE MARKING CARTON Joseph P. Ferrera, New York, N .Y., assignor to Merchandising Display Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed May 10, 1965, Ser. No. 454,583 6 Claims. (Cl. 20644) The present invention relates to a new display and price-marking carton adapted for packaging standard lots of articles, e.g., dozen lots. More particularly, the invention relates to a specialty carton which supports a depletable supply of discrete stacked items therein and further provides physical boundaries for holding the stacked items in standardized commercial lots for easy marking in a packaging plant, in a retail market or in a warehouse. The display carton of the present invention is adapted for easy handling since it is formed of an outer protective carton of novel construction and is composed of a tray and cover which may be removed for price marking and/ or display of the items whether or not the protective carton is storedv or transshipped.

The package of the present invention provides a timesaving multiple purpose packaging unit in that, for purposes of price marking, there is provided a carton formed of two halves, wherein each half holds stacked items in commercial lots, e.g., in lots of one-half dozen, one dozen or in multiples of dozens. This special carton has a medially hinged, bendable bottom with each half comprising novel swinging, vertical, dividing panel means for holding the unit packaged contents in place. The medially hinged, folda'ble bottom of the novel carton enables the carton to be maneuvered in the tray to form a dihedral shelf. When the medial divider means is swung back, the ends of all of the discrete unit packages in each carton half are exposed at an end for price marking. The items need not be removed from the tray for the purpose of price marking. The carton is then reformed, with the contents intact, and restored to its original orientation so that in this normal position the ends of the stored packages are arranged in a line-reading display, the pricing information being provided on the items themselves. The stack of units may be re-packaged with its protective carton for later dis-play, thereby adapting the carton concept for display purposes. The same carton is used in handling and transshipment without depleting its holding capability. The unit packages within the carton may be withdrawn by direct simple lifting action and without changing the display.

The present invention provides important improvements over the prior art as that disclosed in US. Patent No. 2,315,999, issued to C. B. Holm on April 6, 1943. Among other important advantages of the present invention, particularly in relation to FIGS. -10 of the Helm patent, the present invention affords display and direct removal of the items to be sold while retaining the items firmly in position with each item bearing against a central dividing panel. The carton of the present invention need not be maneuvered to a position for re-packaging different from that for display, as in the Helm patent, but rather occupies the same position in display and in re-packaging. Further, the display carton of the present invention is simpler than that of the Holm patent and is formed of a rectangular blank of single thickness by the simple step of cutting the blank and impressing fold lines thereon.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved multipurpose display carton of simple construction which is adaptable for pricing and re-packaging without reorientation of the unit contents of the carton and enables direct accessibility of the contents.

Another object of this invention is to provide a display carton holding items which can he price marked and price inspected in stacked lots without any movement of the packaged unit items relative to the carton, the carton including end-abutting support surfaces for the items in display position which is the same as the shipping position.

Another object of this invention is to provide a display carton which holds items for display in the same carton position as that when the carton is to be protectively packaged for shipping, while yet affording accessibility to endsupported items for price marking in commercial lots.

The above and other objects of the present invention, as well as its features and advantages, will be better understood by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals indicate like parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank from which the carton may be formed according to the invention;

FIGS. 2-4 are views in perspective of the carton formed from the FIG. 1 blank in various operative positions;

FIG. 5 is a view in perspective of a plurality of cartons according to the invention arranged in a stack;

FIG. 6 is a view in perspective of a carton protectively packaged for shipment according to the invention; and

' FIG. 7 is a view in perspective of another embodiment of a carton according to the invention having one instead of two medial swinging separator or divider panels.

Referring to FIG. 1, the construction of the pricemarking carton 11 may be made from a blank 12 of foldable material such as conventional laminated paperboard or the like. The blank 12 is cut, folded and provided with holes and tabs in the same manner on each side of a centerline 13 defining opposing symmetrical portions of the blank labeled A and B. Portions A and B are mirror images of each other. Therefore, reference numerals will be accorded portions of one-half of the blank to apply symmetrically about line 13 to the other portion.

Specifically, each half of the blank has a rectangular bottom panel 17 joined to each other along a fold 19 coincident with centerline 13. The fold line 19 forms the longer side of the panel 17 and provides the medial hinge axis for the carton 11 when formed.

Each panel 17 has cut along one shorter side 21 thereof an elongated aperture 23 which forms an anchor insert for a tab. Each side 21 provides a fold line for an intermediate fiap 25. The flap 25 has converging toward the centerline 13:: side 27 tapering toward a fold line 29 which separates the intermediate flap 25 from a fold-over flap 31. The fold-over flap 31 has a tab 33 of even dimension with the elongated aperture 23 for anchoring fit in the aperture.

Each bottom panel 17 has on its other short side a fold line 35 connecting said panel to a side wall 37. The

height of the carton is defined by the length of the sidewall along its fold line 39 which connects the sidewall 37 to a back wall 41. A border tab 43 is foldably connected to the back wall 41 along a fold line 45. For appearance sake, the top of the border tab 43 may be rounded or beveled, while at its bottom portion there is provided a support tab 47 integral therewith. When the carton is formed, the support tab 47 extends along a portion of fold line 21 thereby forming an upstanding base member over which the fold-over flap 31 is folded.

The carbon has an inner bottom or floor panel 49 foldably connected to back wall 41 along a line 51, the line 51 being an extension of fold line 35. The floor panel 49 has in its side furthest from the centerline 13 a recess 53 so that when the carton is assembled, recess 53 overlies aperture 23, thus permitting tab 33 to be inserted into aperture 43.

Each side A and B of the carton may be provided, according to the invention, with a swinging, vertical central separator panel 55 foldably connected to the floor panel along a line 57.- When assembled, fold line 57 overlies both the axis 13 and the fold line 19, and line 57 provides, in effect, a medial hinge about which the separator 55 may swing to reveal the contents of its respective half of the carton.

, It is to be noted that when the carbon is assembled, the floor 49 overlies exactly bottom panel 17 with fold line 57 overlying line 19, and with the respective back walls 41 or'sides A and B facing each other across centerline 13. The carton is held together by the tab 33 being maintained in the aperture 23, the flaps 31 and 25 overlying opposite sides of the support tab 47 and urging the tab 33 against one side of the aperture 23- due to inherent tendency of the folded flaps 25 and 31 to unfold.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the carton 11 is assembled and nested within a tray 61, the tray itself being formed of the bottom portion of an outer carton, said carton 11 may be manually urged as indicated so that it splays outwardly to form a dihedral shelf, each side A and B rotating about centerline (i.e. hinge axis) 13. Of course, the movement of sides A and B is more specifically a cammingaction int-hat the back walls 41 slide downwardly along sides 63 of the tray 61, the axis 13 thus moving upwardly. Once moved to the positions shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the carton 11 will be held in place by force of gravity acting on the sides A and B, the force being resisted at support regions located where each side A and B of the carton 11 has its back walls 41 in intimate contact with tray walls 63 and where the corners formed by fold lines 51 are in intimate contact with the bottom panel 65 of the tray 61. Preferably, the walls of tray 61 should not exceed the width of flaps 25.

With the cart-on 11 opened up in the manner shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the separators 55 may be rotated about respective fold lines 57 to reveal the contents of each carton halfA and B. With the contents of carton 11 still in place, as indicated in FIG. 3, an attendant may then, with a marker 67, place a price or other suitable mark 69 on each item 71 to be sold, the marks being placed on the exposed end faces 73 of the items.

As an alternative construction, as shown in FIG. 7, instead of providing two flaps 55, one for each side A and B, one of said flaps may, if desired, be eliminated without any appreciable difference in the operative results. The remaining construction is the same as that shown and described in conjunction with FIG. 1, and accordingly, the same reference numerals apply thereto.

As shown in FIG. 4, after the items 71 are suitably marked, the carton 11 may be urged closed from its open position in a manner reverse from that shown in FIG. 2. A plurality of cartons 11 may then be restacked, as shown in FIG. 5, it now being obvious that when the cartons 11 are stacked (with or without trays 61), the contents thereof are held in place and also displayed in an attractive setting framed by the flaps 25 on the bottom and by the border tabs 43 on the sides. Yet the items 71 may be easily removed and depleted from the open top by customers.

If, however, for any reason (e.g. further shipment) it is necessary or desirable to re-box the carton 11, an upper portion or cover 73 may be provided for secured fit with tray 61 by means of tape 77 or other suitable means to form a completely closed protective package 75 shown in FIG. 6.

The very fact that the carton 11 maintains the original factory stacked relationship of the items 71, before, during and after marking, provides an important commercial advantage for the handling of the items, it now being further apparent that the items 71 may be easily kept in accurately accounted-for commercially used lots (e.g. dozen lots) despite shipment after marking and after display. The extent of depletion of the displayed items may be easily observed. Further, the display cartons 11 may be easily moved about singly (FIG. 4) or while stacked (FIG. locally, providing added flexibility to fit local needs.

Further utilization of the price marking carton 11 may be realized in that the central divider(s) or separator(s) 55 provide physical boundaries on which (and behind which) the goods may be marked separately to identify the number of items in each standard size compartment.

t is understood that while specific embodiments of the present invention have been described and shown herein, that the scope of the present invention is limited only by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A display carton for holding items in at least two commercial lots, said items having ends facing each other therein, and said carton oriented in a display position for providing items therein directly accessible to the simple lifting motion of customers, said display position of the carton being the same as that in which the items are held in end abutted supporting relation for shipment by two opposing support means, said carton being formed of two symmetrical units movable to a dihedral position exposing the ends of the items therein without any movement of the items relative to the carton, said carton being formed from a blank of foldable material of single thickness, said carton when assembled comprising floor panel means generally rectangular in shape and bendable along a medial line crossing its width whereby said panel means may be bent into a dihedral surface; first and second upstanding adjoining walls forrning a corner located on each of said opposing sides of said medial line and symmetrically oriented in facing relation to said medial line, said first wall paralleling said medial line; said first and second walls on each side of said medial line being movable in unison with the floor means on the same side of said medial line and, therefore, in rotative opposition to the walls on the other side of said medial line; partial wall means foldably connected to said first wall and parallel to said second wall on each side of said medial line; flap means foldably connected to said floor panel means and overlying both sides of said partial wall means to thereby hold each side of the carton in place; and dividing panel means bendable in relation to said floor and walls about an axis essentially coincident with said medial line.

2. A display carton for holding items in at least two commercial lots, said items having ends facing each other therein, said carton oriented in a display position for providing items therein directly accessible to the simple lifting motion of customers, said display position of the carton being the same as that in which the items are held in end abutted supporting relation for shipment by two opposing support means, said carton being formed of two symmetrical units movable to a dihedral position exposing the ends of the items therein without any movement of the items relative to the carton, said carton being formed from a blank of foldable material of single thickness, said carton comprising two bottom panels secured together on a medial foldable line, each symmetrical unit as a blank comprising: a side wall foldably connected to one of said bottom panels along a line perpendicular to said medial line; a back wall foldably connected to a side of said side wall; a floor panel foldably connected along one side tothe bottom of said back wall; a divider panel foldably connected to the opposing side of said floor panel on at least one of said symmetrical units; said bottom panel having foldably connected to its side opposite from said side wall an intermediate flap along a line perpendicular to said medial line, there being an elongated slot formed along a central portion of said line; a fold-over flap foldably connected to said intermediate flap along a line perpendicular to said medial line; an insert flap integral with said fold-over flap and of even dimension with said slot for insertion therein; said back wall having foldably connected thereto along a line parallel to said medial line a support tab, whereby when said carton is assembled said floor panel overlies the bottom panel and said support tab overlies the fold line having said slot, said intermediate and fold-over flaps overlying opposing sides of said support tab so that said insert flap 5 is inserted into said slot thereby holding its symmetrical unit of the carton in place about the medial line, each unit being rotatable about said medial line and the divider panel thus being rotatable about the medial line.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein each of said symmetrical units has a divider panel foldably connected to said opposing side of said floor panel.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said back wall has foldably connected thereto along a line parallel to said medial line a border tab.

5. A display carton for holding items in at least two commercial lots, said items having ends facing each other therein, and said carton oriented in a display position for providing items therein directly accessible to the simple lifting motion of customers, said display position of the carton being the same as that in which the items are held in end a-butted supporting relation for shipment by two opposing support means, said carton being formed of two symmetrical units movable to a dihedral position exposing the ends of the items therein without any movement of 20 the items relative to the carton, bottom panel means for each symmetrical unit rotatably connected to each other along a medial line; respective adjacent walls connected to said bottom panel means on each side of said medial line, said Walls forming a corner; flap means connected to said *bottom panel means and to one of said wall means on each side of the medial line for holding the walls and bottom panel means of each unit of said carton in place; and divider wall means connected to said bottom panel means for rotation about the medial line, said divider flap means serving to support opposite to the back wall the end portions of the contents of said carton when the bottom panel means are oriented in a plane position, and said divider flap means being movable to reveal the contents of each symmetrical unit when said bottom panel means is oriented in a dihedral position about the medial line.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5- wherein said divider wall means comprises a divider wall for each carton unit.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/ 1965 Grabosty et al 20645 .11 

1. A DISPLAY CARTON FOR HOLDING ITEMS IN AT LEAST TWO COMMERCIAL LOTS, SAID ITEMS HAVING ENDS FACING EACH OTHER THEREIN, AND SAID CARTON ORIENTED IN A DISPLAY POSITION FOR PROVIDING ITEMS THEREIN DIRECTLY ACCESSIBLE TO THE SIMPLE LIFTING MOTION OF CUSTOMERS, SAID DISPLAY POSITION OF THE CARTON BEING THE SAME AS THAT IN WHICH THE ITEMS ARE HELD IN END ABUTTED SUPPORTING RELATION FOR SHIPMENT BY TWO OPPOSING SUPPORT MEANS, SAID CARTON BEING FORMED OF TWO SYMMETRICAL UNITS MOVABLE TO A DIHEDRAL POSITION EXPOSING THE ENDS OF THE ITEMS THEREIN WITHOUT ANY MOVEMENT OF THE ITEMS RELATIVE TO THE CARTON, SAID CARTON BEING FORMED FROM A BLANK OF FOLDABLE MATERIAL OF SINGLE THICKNESS, SAID CARTON WHEN ASSEMBLED COMPRISING FLOOR PANEL MEANS GENERALLY RECTANGULAR IN SHAPE AND BENDABLE ALONG A MEDIAL LINE CROSSING ITS WIDTH WHEREBY SAID PANEL MEANS MAY BE BENT INTO A DIHEDRAL SURFACE; FIRST AND SECOND UPSTANDING ADJOINING WALLS FORMING A CORNER LOCATED ON EACH OF SAID OPPOSING SIDES OF SAID MEDIAL LINE AND SYMMETRICALLY ORIENTED IN FACING RELATION TO SAID MEDIAL LINE, SAID FIRST WALL PARALLELING SAID MEDIAL LINE; SAID FIRST AND SECOND WALLS ON EACH SIDE OF SAID MEDIAL LINE BEING MOVABLE IN UNISON WITH THE FLOOR MEANS ON THE SAME SIDE OF SAID MEDIAL LINE AND, THEREFORE, IN ROTATIVE OPPOSITION TO THE WALLS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF SAID MEDIAL LINE; PARTIAL WALL MEANS FOLDABLY CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST WALL AND PARALLEL TO SAID SECOND WALL ON EACH SIDE OF SAID MEDIAL LINE; FLAP MEANS FOLDABLY CONNECTED TO SAID FLOOR PANEL MEANS AND OVERLYING BOTH SIDES OF SAID PARTIAL WALL MEANS TO THEREBY HOLD EACH SIDE OF THE CARTON IN PLACE; AND DIVIDING PANEL MEANS BENDABLE IN RELATION TO SAID FLOOR AND WALLS ABOUT AN AXIS ESSENTIALLY COINCIDENT WITH SAID MEDIAL LINE. 